切支丹时代欧洲人从日本运出白银分析

An Analysis of Silver Export from Japan by the Europeans during the Christian Century

16世纪40年代,欧洲人(葡萄牙人)首次登陆日本。其后,他们在日本进行长达100年的传教和经商,日本和欧洲史学界称这一时期为"切支丹时代"或"切支丹世纪"。在双方的贸易中,欧洲人从日本运走大量白银,白银成为日本最主要的输出品,这足以引起学者们的重视。本文从分析日本白银的开采冶炼着手,继而论述日本白银被大量运出的原因,然后统计了日欧白银交易的具体数据,并以此作为研究分析的基础。经研究发现,日本白银不但是日欧贸易中重要而特殊的商品,还是16—17世纪东西方交流交往的集中体现。欧洲人从日本运出白银不但促进了欧亚的经济交流,还推动了世界交通和贸易的发展。

In the 1540s Europeans(Portuguese) first landed in Japan.There they then spread Christianity and engaged in trade for about a century,which was called 'Christian Century' by Japanese and European historians.During this period,huge quantity of silver was exported by the Europeans,and silver became one of the most important export goods of Japan.Therefore,scholars should pay attention to this phenomenon.This article analyzes the exploitation and smelting of Japanese silver firstly,then explains why silver was exported in large quantities,and finally estimates the amount of silver on a basis of usable data.These analysis and calculations shows that Japanese silver was not only a sort of important and special commodity but also a sort of significant medium between eastern-western communications in the 16th and 17th centuries.The Japanese silver carried away by the Europeans promoted Eurasian economic intercourses and the early formation of international communication and world commerce.